USA > Massachusetts > Middlesex County > Historic homes and places and genealogical and personal memoirs relating to the families of Middlesex County, Massachusetts, Volume III > Part 4
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(IV) Ebenezer Taft, son of Robert Taft (3), was born December 8, 1735, at Mendon, Massachusetts. He resided in Mendon and perhaps Uxbridge after the Revolution. There is no record of his estate in the Worcester probate files. A deed from Ebenezer and dated January 16, 1758, including all the lands he had from "his honored father Robert Taft"
was given to Jonathan Henry, of Taunton, Massachusetts. He may have lived at Taun- ton, though he married and had at least two children in Mendon, as recorded. He mar- ried, January 2, 1762, at Mendon, Lydia Taft, born May 10, 1738, daughter of Thomas and Lydia Taft. Children : I. Marvel, born Feb- ruary 6, 1763, mentioned below. 2. Lydia, born January 9, 1766.
(V) Marvel Taft, son of Ebenezer Taft (4), was born in Mendon, February 6, 1763. In his sixteenth year he enlisted in the Revo- lutionary army as a private in Captain Ed- ward Seagrave's company, Colonel Wade's regiment, June 19, 1778, and was discharged July 12, 1778. This was an Uxbridge and Mendon company. He served also as a pri- vate in the Rhode Island campaign in Captain Thomas Fisk's company, Colonel Nathan Ty- ler's regiment, in 1779. He was also in Cap- tain Benjamin Read's company, Colonel John Rand's regiment, from Worcester county, sent to reinforce the Continental army, and in 1781 in Captain Philip Amidon's company, Colonel Dean's regiment. Later in 1781 he was in Captain Reuben Davis's company, Col- onel Luke Drury's regiment, enlisting for Mendon for three months. He mortgaged land in Sutton for the support of his mother, Lydia Taft, widow, to Nehemiah Adams, De- cember 27, 1805. The mortgage is witnessed by Bezaleel Taft, Jr., a relative, and Benja- min Adams. Marvel Taft, of Uxbridge, bought land of James Morse in Northbridge, Massachusetts, on the west side of the county road on both sides of the road, sixty-three acres of land, and a pew in the meeting house, March 2, 1805. Half this land he sold to his son Benjamin in 1817. To his son Cheney he deeded half the land he bought of John Wheeler. His will was made July 24, 1832, at Northbridge, and was allowed at Worces- ter, November 27, same year, with a codicil dated October 10, same year. He bequeathed to wife Molly, and children Benjamin, Adol- phus, Read, Cheney (died 1840), Orray, Ly- man and Lydia White. He married (first), at Uxbridge, April 19, 1812, Ruth Murdock, and (second), at same place, April 21, 1817, Molly Taft. He removed to Northbridge when a young man. Children, born at North- bridge: I. Benjamin, mentioned below. 2. Adolphus, married, September 3, 1809, Milly Balcom, and resided in Douglas, Massachu- setts. 3. Read. 4. Cheney. 5. Orray, died in 1874. 6. Lyman, died in 1862. 7. Lydia, married Washington White. He was a char-
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ter member of the Uxbridge Lodge, Ancient Free and Accepted Masons.
(VI) Benjamin Taft, eldest child of Mar- vel Taft (5), was born in Mendon, about 1790, and died in Ayer at his son's home, Jan- uary 13, 1874. He lived at Northbridge. He married Syrena Batchelder, of Northbridge, and their children were: I. Ruth M., born April 2, 1816, married Jesse E. Southwick. 2. Marvel, born 1819. 3. Benjamin Franklin, born August 17, 1823, further mentioned be- low. 4. Syrena Batchelder. 5. Frank Sibley, died young.
(VII) Benjamin Franklin Taft, third child and second son of Benjamin and Syrena (Bat- chelder ) Taft, was born in Northbridge, Aug- ust 17, 1823. He received his education in the common schools of Northbridge and Ber- lin, and the Uxbridge Academy. After leav- ing school he was for a number of years a clerk in a country school in Holbrooksville, and later went to New Bedford, where he en- gaged in the mercantile business. After a time he became interested in the manufacture of machinery, and went to Worcester, where he secured employment in a machine shop, re- maining two years. He then removed to Sut- ton, Massachusetts, where he was similarly employed. He afterward worked in a planing mill in Charlestown (now Boston) on Front street, for two years, then removing to Groton (now the town of Ayer) became manager for the firm of Nourse, Mason & Co., manufac- turers of agricultural machinery, army wag- ons, stretchers, etc. He later became manager for the Ames Plow Company, engaged in the same line of business, and removed to Wor- cester with the last named firm. He removed to West Acton and engaged in the manufac- ture of tubs and pails for three years. Later he engaged in the fire insurance business, establishing an office in Boston, and took charge of the affairs of the Cotton and Wool- en Insurance Company, then seriously crippled by the great Boston fire of 1872. By close and intelligent application he succeeded in building up this business until it became profit- able, and so largely extended that it was deem- ed advisable to divide it up into four separate companies, viz. : the Cotton and Woolen, the Rubber, the Industrial and the Whiting, and Mr. Taft became secretary and treasurer of all these companies. He was already wedded to the village of Ayer, for he had made his residence there most of the time since 1853, making a daily trip between that place and Boston. During the Civil war Mr. Taft con-
tributed liberally of his means for the equip- ment of soldiers and the maintenance of their families while they were at the front. In politics he was an earnest Republican, and represented the district of Ayer in the general court, also serving as a member of the school committee of the town. He attended the Pro- testant Episcopal church, but contributed lib- erally to other denominations. He was a char- ter member of Caleb Butter Lodge, Ancient Free and Accepted Masons, in which he was past master. He was the one hundredth mem- ber of the Robert Burns Lodge, Independent Order of Odd Fellows. He died in Ayer, March 22, 1901.
Mr. Taft was married, July 3, 1849, to Car- oline Elizabeth Whiting, born May 17, 1824, in Cumberland, Rhode Island, daughter of Jesse and Sarah Whiting. Their children were : I. Ellen Franklin, born December 3, 1850, married John W. Kittridge, of Stone- ham (later of Ayer). 2. Benjamin, born in Northbridge, April 29, 1852, succeeded his father in the insurance business, and is pres- ident and secretary of the companies pre- viously named ; married Hattie Lawton. 3. Syrena Batchelder, born in Groton, July 19, 1855, married Joseph W. Bulkeley, of Boston, and had three children : Edith, died aged four years ; Earle, died in infancy ; Frank Stedman, a physician, at Ayer. 4. Anna S., born in Groton, September 29, 1857, married Fred- erick W. Moses, of Nashua, New Hampshire, and has three children: Frederick, Kathleen and Carl. 5. Carrie Whiting, born November 24, 1859, married (first) Frederick P. Carle- ton, of Harvard; and (second) Elmer A. Fletcher, of Boston.
Secretary Edward Rawson, RAWSON immigrant ancestor, was born April 16, 1615, at Gillingham, Dorsetshire, England, the son of David Raw- son, citizen and merchant tailor of London, England. His mother was Margaret, sister of Rev. John Wilson, minister at Boston. Ed- ward Rawson came to New England in 1637 and settled in Newbury, where he was one of the grantees and proprietors. He was the sec- ond town clerk of Newbury, notary public and register, serving from April 19, 1638, to 1647. He was also selectman of the town and com- missioner to hear and determine small causes. He was deputy to the general court from Newbury from 1638 nearly every year until 1650; was clerk of the house of deputies in
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1645-46 and 1649. He had a special grant for his services to the general court, a tract of fif- teen hundred acres near the Narragansett country. He and Joseph Hills revised the laws of the province. He succeeded Increase Nowell who had been secretary of the colony since the beginning in 1636. Rawson was chosen May 22, 1650, and after that made his home in Boston. He was re-elected annually to his position until 1686, when Sir Edmund Andros came into power. His residence in Boston was on Rawson lane, so-called, until changed to Bromfield street, and he owned some acres bordering on the common. He and his wife were members of the church of Rev. John Wilson, after whose death Rawson became one of the twenty-eight disaffected persons who left the First Church and united to form the Third or Old South Church, in May, 1669. He became the agent or steward of an English Society for the Propagation of the Gospel among the Indians in New Eng- land, in 1651. He countersigned the warrant sent to Massachusetts for the arrest of the Regicides Goffe, Whalley and Dixwell, but the arrests were never made. The one blot on his good record was his participation in the per- secution of the Quakers, then a fashionable custom. His salary as secretary was at first twenty pounds a year, later sixty pounds. He was subsequently elected recorder of Suffolk county. His family Bible is now or was lately in the possession of R. R. Dodge, of East Sut- ton, Massachusetts, having descended through this line: John Rawson Young (6), Anna (5), David (4), David (3), William (2) and Edward (I). He was an efficient officer and a useful and distinguished citizen. He died August 27, 1693, and administration was granted to his son William. The warrant to distribute the estate was dated April 6, 1695; a partial account was dated January 14, 1722.
He married Rachel Perne, daughter of Thomas Perne, granddaughter of John Hook- er, who married Grindal, sister of Ed- mund Grindal, archbishop of Canterbury in the reign of Queen Elizabeth. Children: I. Daughter, married and remained in England. 2. Edward, graduate of Harvard in 1653; set- tled in Horsmonden, Kent county, England, 1655. 3. Rachel, married, January 18, 1653, William Aubrey. 4. David, born May 6, 1644, went to England. 5. Perne, born Sep- tember 16, 1646, married Rev. Samuel Tor- rey. 6. William, born May 21, 1651, married, July 31, 1673, Anne Glover. 7. Susan, died in Roxbury in 1654. 8. Hannah, baptized
October 10, 1653, died May 27, 1656. 9. Re- becca, born October 19, 1654, died young. 10. Rebecca, born May 23, 1656. II. Elizabeth, born November 12, 1657, married Thomas Broughton. 12. Rev. Grindal, born January 23, 1659, mentioned below.
(II) Rev. Grindal Rawson, son of Edward Rawson (I), was born in Boston, January 23, 1659. He was graduated at Harvard in 1678. After receiving his first degree, Bachelor of Arts, he was invited by his brother-in-law, Rev. Samuel Torrey, to come to his house and study divinity. He proved an apt pupil and was advised to enter the ministry. He preach- ed his first sermon at Medfield, and for two months after that he was heard in various churches until October 4, 1680, when he accepted the invitation to fill the pulpit at Mendon, Massachusetts. He preached there until April 7, 1684, when he was permanently settled as minister of the town.
Rev. Cotton Mather, classmate and friend of Grindal Rawson, in. his preface to his ser- mon preached at the funeral of the latter, quotes the language used by President Urian Oakes at Commencement in 1678 when he conferred degrees on the class of that year. Following is a translation: "The third, some- what high-sounding, is Grindal Rawson, sprung likewise from a most illustrious stock, for his honored father holds a high place in the state; the very pious and orthodox John Wilson, a truly Apostolic man, was his great grandmother's brother, and the Right Rever- end Edmund Grindal, sometime Archbishop of Canterbury, a most saintly man and in the Archbishopric little less than a Puritan, his great-great-grandmother's brother, and may God grant that in learning, holiness and excel- lence of character he may resemble both Wil- son and Grindal." Mr. Mather himself said : "We generally esteemed him a truly pious man and a very prudent one, and a person of temper and every way qualified for a friend that might be delighted in. We honored him for his industrious oversight of the flock in the wilderness which had been committed unto him and the variety of successful pains which he took for the good of those to whom God had therefore exceedingly endeared him. We honored him for his intellectual abilities which procured frequent applications to him and brought him sometimes upon our most con- spicuous theatres. And we usually took it for granted that things would be fairly done where he had a hand in the doing of them. We honored him for his doing the work of an
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evangelist among our Indians, of whose lan- guage he was a master that has scarce an equal, and for whose welfare his projections and performances were such as render our loss herein hardly to be repaired. Such ser- vices are Pyramids." Dr. Metcalf said of him: He was an excellent scholar and emi- nent divine." His reputation as a theologian was of such a character that the general court sometimes presented grave and serious ques- tions of ecclesiastical polity to him for decis- ion. In 1698 he visited the Indian tribes of the Province with Rev. Samuel Danforth, of Taunton. He was appointed chaplain to the forces going to Canada. He wrote the pamph- let entitled "Confession of Faith," published in English and Indian. His artillery election sermon in 1703 and election sermon, May 25, 1709, were published. He died February 6, 1715. A stone, suitably inscribed, marks his burial place in Mendon.
He married Susanna Wilson, daughter of Rev. John Wilson, of Medfield; sister of Dr. John Wilson, of Braintree, granddaughter of Rev. John Wilson. She died July 8, 1748. They were distant relatives. Children : I. Edward, born November 21, 1683. 2.Edward, born 1684, died May 26, 1685. 4. Susanna, born October 31, 1686, married, 1719, Benja- min Reynolds. 5. Edmund, born July 8, 1689. 6. Wilson, born June 23, 1692, mentioned be- low. 7. John, born October 1, 1695, married Mercy Hayward. 8. Mary, born June 22, 1699, married, April 9, 1724, Joseph Dorr. 9. Rachel, born September 6, 1701, married Samuel Wood. 10. David, born October 25, 1703, died January 18, 1704. II. Grindal, born September 6, 1707, married Dorothy Chauncey. 12. Elizabeth, born April 21, 1710. (III) Wilson Rawson, son of Rev. Grindal Rawson (2), was born in Mendon, June 23, 1692, died December 1, 1726. He was a far- mer at Mendon. He married Margaret Ar- thur, of Nantucket, May 4, 1712; she died November 14, 1757. Children : I. Wilson, born August 13, 1713, mentioned below. 2. Priscilla, born December 17, 1715. 3. Mary, born May 12, 1717, died June 22, 1717. 4. Grindal, born July 13, 1719. 5. Edward, born April 2, 1721, married Mary Morse. 6. Ste- phen, born April 2, 1722. 7. Paul, born April 9, 1725, married Phebe Gardner. 8. John, born January 23, 1727.
(IV) Wilson Rawson, son of Wilson Raw- son (3), was born August 13, 1713, at Men- don, Massachusetts. He settled in Upton. He married Abigail Temple, of Harvard (inten-
tion dated December 24, 1737). He died in 1778 at Upton. His will was dated July 5, 1778, and filed December 2, following. Chil- dren: I. Wilson, born October 24, 1738, died March 15, 1744. 2. Caleb, born April 23, 1741. 3. Abigail, born June 9, 1743, married Whitney. 4. Joshua, born April 12, 1746. 5. Mary, born March 2, 1748. 6. Wil- son, born February 20, 1752, soldier in the Revolution. 7. Joshua, born April 1, 1755. 8. Artemas, born 1759, mentioned below.
(V) Artemas Rawson, son of Wilson Raw- son (4), was born at Upton, Massachusetts, March 25, 1759, died at Upton, March 27, 1815. He was a farmer in Upton. In the Revolution he was a private in Captain Ezra Wood's company on the Lexington alarm ; also in Captain Benjamin Farrar's company, Lieutenant Colonel Nathan Tyler's regiment, at the Rhode Island campaign of 1776. He married, November 25, 1779, Dorcas Bache- lor, of Grafton. Children, born at Upton : I. Levi, born January 19, 1780. 2. Asenath (given Marsena in the genealogy), born July 13, 1782. 3. Emma, born January 25, 1784. 4. Artemas, born September 13, 1785, men- tioned below. 5. Phila, born May II, 1787, (also given Philinda). 6. Dorcas, born and died, 1790. 7. Mark B., born March 3, 1793. 8. Dorcas B., born March 2, 1795, married William Brooks. 9. Nathaniel Ward, born April II, 1797, died January 30, 1818.
(VI) Artemas Rawson, son of Artemas Rawson (5), was born in Upton, September 13, 1785. He had a common school educa- tion. In addition to the work on his father's farm he learned during his youth the trade of shoemaker. For a few years he followed his trade in his native town, then moved to Paris, Maine, where he continued to make shoes, after the custom of the times, and also con- ducted a farm there. He removed to Oxford, Maine, bought a small farm and continued to manufacture shoes in the winter. In 1859 he removed to Arlington, Massachusetts, retiring at that time from active labor and business. He died at Lynn, Massachusetts, November 29, 1869. Mr. Rawson was a member of the Methodist Episcopal church. Originally a Democrat, he became a Republican in his later years. When a young man he belonged to the state militia.
He married, February 3, 1816, at Paris, Maine, Dorcas Rice and lived there until 1832. Children: I. Solon, born October 29, 1817. 2. Aurelia P., born July 22, 1819. 3. War- ren, born July 18, 1821, mentioned below.
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4. Mary, born October 18, 1823. 5. William, born May 1, 1826. 6. Dorcas B., born May I, 1829, died March 1, 1891. 7. Miranda, born June 17, 1831. 8. Ann E., born June 25, 1833, died August 26, 1871. 9. James, born July 6, 1835. IO. Van Buren, born July 17, 1839, died September 16, 1869. II. Elbridge M., born November 12, 1840. 12. S. Greenleaf, born December 10, 1842, died March 5, 1865.
(VII) Warren Rawson, son of Artemas Rawson (6), was born at Paris, Maine, July 18, 1821. His schooling was somewhat lim- ited, attending the village school until he was twelve and working on the farm. Then he went to work on the Keith farm in Oxford, Maine, until he was twenty. In 1842 he came to Boston, having but seventy-five cents left when he arrived. He walked to Arlington, where he found employment on the William Adams farm. He worked there one year, and for Albert Winn, market gardener, three years, in charge of the market wagons in which the produce was transported to Boston. He was naturally energetic, frugal, and suc- cessful in bettering his condition. In 1845 he was able to purchase the farm of Joseph Mott. This tract of thirty acres is bounded by the Mystic river and Broadway. Arlington is famous for successful market gardeners, but none of them ranked higher than Mr. Rawson in his day, either in methods of cultivation, quality of produce or in knowledge of the markets. He made money rapidly, was care- ful and methodical in expenditures and soon acquired a modest fortune. In 1872 he was able to retire from active labor, and he sold his business to his eldest son, Warren W. Rawson, building for himself a residence and greenhouse on Broadway. His was the first greenhouse built in Arlington, and he had much enjoyment in carrying on his place as a means of occupying his time. He died at Ar- lington, July 22, 1893.
Although his school days were short, he read much and traveled extensively, especially in his own country, every portion of which he had visited. He was liberally self-educated, a veritable mine of general information.' He had a good memory and sterling common sense, the two great essentials to self-educa- tion. During his active life he displayed un- usual business ability; was temperate in habits, simple in his tastes and indefatigable in pushing and developing his business. In man- ner, he was jovial and very approachable. He was popular among the sportsmen of the town and each year he made a fishing trip to the
Rangeley Lakes. He was a member of the Arlington Baptist church, and was prominent and influential in the society. In early life a Whig, he was later a Republican. He served the town of Arlington for seven years on the board of selectmen and for many years was a water commissioner. He joined Bethel Lodge, No. 12, Odd Fellows, at Arlington, but was not an affiliated member of the order at the time of his death. He was a member of the Boston Lancers during the sixties and re- mained a member of the organization all his life.
He married, November 2, 1845, Eleanor Estabrook Hovey, who was born December 27, 1825, daughter of Ebenezer and Louisa (Estabrook) Hovey, of West Cambridge. Her father was a farmer. Children: I. Warren Winn, born January 23, 1847, mentioned be- low. 2. Mary Ellen, born February 7, 1849, died November 1, 1878; married, October I, 1872, George H. Wright, of Cambridge; child : Eleanor Heloise Wright, born Novem- ber I, 1876. 3. Anna Louise, born April 29, 1852, died September 29, 1852. 5. Sarah Hovey, born December 10, 1856, married (first), June 14, 1881, Charles C. Cox, of Winchester, Massachusetts; married (sec- ond), August 31, 1884, Rev. William Walcott Fay, of Hampton, New Hampshire; child, Dexter Rawson Fay, born March 15, 1887. 6. Edwin Prescott, born December 9. 1861.
(VIII) Warren Winn Rawson, son of Warren Rawson (7), was born in Arlington, January 23, 1847. He attended the public schools of that town until he was fourteen and the Cotting Academy of Arlington for three years more. He then took a course in the business college of Chamberlain & Ken- dall, Boston, graduating in 1867. He entered partnership with his father at the age of twenty and made a thorough study of the bus- iness of plants, seeds, soil, etc. For five years he had charge of the sale of the produce in the Boston markets. In 1872, when he was twenty-five years old, he bought out his fath- er's business and continued it alone with un- abated success. In 1879 he bought a place at the corner of Medford and Warren streets of W. H. Whittemore, consisting of ten acres of land, and since then has been located on that farm. In 1880 he built three greenhouses and in 1881 built his residence. In 1882 he added two more greenhouses to his plant and in the year following installed the first steam heating plant used in a greenhouse. He was the pioneer in the modern business of raising
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fruits and vegetables under glass. Each year since then he has added to his greenhouses until at present he has thirty, covering eight acres of cultivated area and equipped in the most approved and up-to-date fashion. His is the largest plant of greenhouses in the New England states, and he has the largest market gardening business in that territory. Besides this business, he is known widely as a dealer in seeds. In 1884 he purchased the extensive seed business of Everett & Gleason, 34 South Market street, Boston, and has conducted it under the firm name of W. W. Rawson & Company. This business has grown to large proportions under his ownership. In 1887 Mr. Rawson organized the Boston Market Gardeners' Association and was elected its first president, an office he has held ever since by successive re-elections. He takes pride in the fact that he has never missed a meeting of the association. The produce from Mr. Raw- son's farms and greenhouses are sold to re- tailers in Boston and by commission houses in New York. He makes a specialty of cu- cumbers and lettuce, though by no means con- fining himself to these products. In 1901 he bought six farms at Newton, New Hamp- shire, and has used them for raising fruit, seeds, and at present has two thousand hogs on his Newton property.
Mr. Rawson attends personally to all the details of his business and as a matter of course is constantly busy, yet he maintains an interest in church, social and public affairs such as few men exhibit. He was elected to the Arlington school committee in 1884 and served twelve years. In 1888 he became a member of the Republican town committee, serving until 1895, being the chairman three years. He was moderator of the town meet- ings in Arlington in 1889-90-91, and other years, eleven in all. He was a member of the Republican councillor committee for the third district from 1895 to 1904. In 1897 he was elected a member of the sewer commission and served upon it eight years. He was on the board of selectmen in 1903-04-05, and was chairman in 1904. He was a member of the governor's council from the third district in 1905-06, and served on important committees in that body.
In religion Mr. Rawson is a Unitarian and is chairman of the music committee of the Arlington Unitarian Church. He was chor- ister of the Baptist church, before becoming a Unitarian, for a period of twenty-five years, and sang tenor in the quartette of the Baptist
choir. Mr. Rawson is a prominent Free Mason. He was made a member of Hiram Lodge, June 29, 1893 ; of Menotomy Royal Arch Chapter, November 9, 1897; of Cambridge Commandery of Knights Templar ; of Mass- achustts Consistory, thirty-second degree, Scottish Rite Masonry, Boston. He is also a member of Friendship Lodge, No. 20, Odd Fellows, Cambridgeport, and is past noble grand of Bethel Lodge, No. 12. He was also formerly its secretary. He is a member of the Grand Lodge of Odd Fellows. Among other organizations to which he belongs: The Massachusetts Republican Club; the Home Market Club; the Marketmen's Republican Club ; the Fruit and Produce Exchange ; the Fruit and Produce Beneficiary Association, of which he was a charter member and for the past three years has been president. He is a life member of the Massachusetts Horticul- tural Society, of which he was for three years vice-president. He is vice-president of the Bay State Agricultural Society ; president of the Middlesex Agricultural Society, and mem- ber of the Middlesex Club; trustee of the Lexington Grange, Patrons of Husbandry. He served eight years on the Massachusetts State Board of Agriculture. He is a director of the Orange Judd Company of Springfield and New York, publishers of the Homestead and other agricultural journals. He is presi- dent of the Arlington Improvement Company, and is interested in every movement to de- velop and improve the beautiful town in which he was born and where he has made his home. He was one of the three incorporators of the First National Bank of Arlington, and a direc- tor. He is a member also of the Arlington Boat Club, one of the twenty-one associates ; of the' Arlington Historical Society; of the Arlington Veteran Fireman's Association; di- rector of the Arlington Co-operative Bank; honorary member of Francis Gould Post, No. 36, Grand Army. He has been chief marshal of various public celebrations and parades ; is well known throughout the state as a lec- turer of ability on agricultural and horticul- tural topics ; an excellent presiding officer. He ranks easily among the leading men of the state in many lines of activity. Mr. Rawson's distinguishing qualities of mind are perhaps his great energy and executive ability, his pub- lic spirit and good fellowship. Both in public and private life his attractive qualities of mind and heart have attracted and held many friends. He has the esteem and confidence not only of his townsmen but of the whole state.
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